As is well known, bath tubs and shower stalls have become increasingly cluttered with toiletries as the beauty and hair care products market has expanded its products lines for both men and women. It is not unusual to find the perimeter of a tub or shower stall cluttered with various shampoos, conditioners, razors, shaving creams, loofas, and soaps. As a consequence it often occurs that any or all of these products fall into the bathing area, causing the bather to bend and retrieve the item, or worse, to step on and break the item or slip on it. To deal with this problem, others in the field have offered shower organizers which hang off of various fixtures in the bathroom, e.g. the shower head, the soap dish, or the curtain rod, with some of these organizers being constructed out of a rigid wire, rigid plastic, flexible plastic, or netting material.
In the case of the organizers constructed out of wire, a few problems exist: a) the wiring will eventually rust and corrode, thereby becoming unsightly and potentially dangerous if and when it breaks--leaving sharp pointed ends; b) the rigid form and multiplicity of surfaces also makes it difficult to clean, which usually results in it not being done; and c) the format usually comprises a wire shelf with a retaining wall around it so as to prevent toiletries from falling to the floor, but does not provide separate compartments for each toiletry--thereby allowing them to tip over within the shelf and become difficult to grab and possibly leak.
The organizers made out of rigid plastic, similarly, have much the same problems (with the exception of the possibility of rust and corrosion) yet are susceptible to cracking--thereby exposing the bather to sharp edges; also mildew becomes a problem since the plastic shelf retains some of the water from the shower and does not lend to self-drying, or rinsing.
As will be understood the dangerous aspects of these rigid organizers, and their lack of separate compartments, are not present in those organizers constructed out of flexible plastic or netting--whose format generally consists of a flimsy sheet which hangs on the curtain rod by means of hooks or rings, and whose surface is covered with a series of pockets which are vertically situated. However, in the case of organizers constructed out of flexible plastic, mildew becomes a much larger problem than with the prior alternatives, in which the pockets that hold the toiletries retain water between sheets of non-breathing material (plastic) and allows mold and bacteria to form and the plastic to rot and tear. On the other hand, organizers that are constructed out of mesh netting do not have the problems associated with rigid designs, or of flexible plastic designs since they are easily cleaned--thereby eliminating mildew, and being soft have no dangerous edges, but they are fairly flimsy and easily snagged and torn; also, due to their lack of rigidity,--a problem with the flexible plastic organizers as well--they tend to sag under the weight of the toiletries and makes access more difficult, especially considering their typical uniformity-of-pocket-sizes without consideration of the different bulks of the various toiletries to be contained.
And, as will be appreciated, two additional problems run throughout each incarnation of these prior art shower organizers: a) that they are either unattractive, or not coordinated with the rest of the bathroom decor; b) that the manufacturing process is complicated and costly.